My Real Job is Spying on Konoha, but I'm Also its Hokage

On Monday morning, in the small grove outside the house, Hagawa called Kurenai to train with him. She practiced genjutsu while he practiced throwing ninja tools. But what gave him a headache was that he didn't know which of the remaining three ninja tools to choose.

There were many ninja tools, but the most common and simplest were kunai, shuriken, senbon, and Fūma shuriken. The difficulty of the others skyrocketed. For example, tachi, tantos, broadswords, staffs, and nunchaku. Exploding tags also counted as ninja tools and were very simple to use, but they were too expensive for him.

As he thought, Hagawa began to consider how to make money. For a child, there weren't many options. He pondered for a moment and suddenly thought of Tsuchihashi at the Konoha Knowledge Bookstore. In the original series, Jiraiya had once shown Naruto his bankbook. While he wasn't the richest man in the world, he was certainly a top-tier earner. His money undoubtedly came from his bestselling Make-Out Paradise series.

In his past life, Hagawa had read many classics. He even had a ready-made pen name: "Thunder Fire Sword." But he didn't necessarily have to write it himself.

Hagawa finally decided on his remaining two ninja tools: exploding tags and a tachi, or a long sword. In Japan, the two were often categorized together. The reason for choosing a tachi was simple: Konoha-style Swordsmanship. In Konoha, most sword styles were passed down within clans, making it impossible for outsiders to learn them, like the Hatake sword style. But Konoha-style Swordsmanship was an exception. In the original series, Kosuke Maruboshi, Hayate Gekkō, and Yūgao Uzuki had all used it.

As for the last ninja tool, Hagawa had long had a target in mind: the scalpel. He would learn how to use it when he started studying medical ninjutsu anyway.

"I'm going out for a run, Kurenai." An idea had suddenly struck Hagawa. I'm short on cash, so why not just ask Tsuchihashi for some? As a spy for the Cloud Village, I need operational funds, right? Asking for a little money is perfectly reasonable, isn't it?

Hagawa first ran two laps around the streets, then entered the Konoha Knowledge Bookstore.

"Code number 9527, I'm glad to see you haven't been exposed yet," Tsuchihashi said upon seeing Hagawa, offering the same blessing as last time.

"..." Hagawa's mouth twitched. He wished he would stop giving this kind of blessing. It felt like an old general on an opera stage, completely covered in death flags.

"Hagawa, do you have some intelligence for me?" Tsuchihashi asked with an expectant look.

Hagawa paused. When it came to intelligence on Konoha, he actually had quite a lot, all secrets gleaned from the original series.

"No," Hagawa said, holding out his hand directly. "I need operational funds."

"Operational funds?" Tsuchihashi was stunned for a moment before he understood. He's just asking for money. Why use such a fancy term?

"You're still young, so it's true you have no source of income," Tsuchihashi said, stroking his chin. "How about I give you 5,000 ryō a month from now on?"

For a child, 5,000 ryō was an astronomical sum. D-rank missions, the lowest tier, started at 5,000 ryō. But that reward was split four ways, so an ordinary Genin might not even get 1,000 ryō.

"Thank you, Uncle Tsuchihashi." Hagawa was very satisfied. It was 5,000 ryō for free, after all.

"If you take the money, you have to do the work," Tsuchihashi's tone suddenly shifted, his face becoming stern. "The Cloud Village has a mission for you."

"Mission accepted!" Hagawa said seriously.

"Display your talent freely at the Academy, and upon graduation, choose a high-ranking Konoha official as your teacher," Tsuchihashi said, patting his shoulder earnestly. "Right now, you are the only spy with any hope of infiltrating Konoha's upper echelons."

"I understand!" Hagawa nodded firmly. If he could become Tsunade's student, this mission would be automatically completed.

"If you can do it, you will become an in-name disciple of Lord Raikage and gain the qualification to learn Nintaijutsu," Tsuchihashi said, his expression softening into a smile.

I get it. You're drawing a big pancake for me. But it was a nice-looking pancake, and he was willing to eat it.

"Uncle Tsuchihashi," Hagawa said, scratching his head. "It's like this, I have a friend... if he wanted to publish a book, could he do it here?"

"Of course," Tsuchihashi said after a moment of deliberation. "Since he's your friend, I can even give him a two-tenths cut of the profits."

"Two-tenths?" Hagawa asked curiously. "What's the original split?"

"A three-seven split," Tsuchihashi explained. "The bookstore gets seventy percent, the author gets thirty."

Only thirty percent? Isn't that like begging for food on your knees? But it was a good thing that he—no, his friend—could get fifty percent if he published here.

"What if my friend provides the creative concept and the outline? How would the split work then?" Hagawa thought for a moment and came up with another idea: co-authoring. Although he had read many classics, he only remembered the general plot, and writing a full book was too time-consuming.

"I've never seen a model like that before," Tsuchihashi said with a slight frown. He looked at Hagawa, deep in thought. Normally, this wouldn't be allowed. But Hagawa was a spy for the Cloud Village, a spy with a limitless future, worthy of building a connection with and investing in.

"If the sales are poor, a one-tenth cut. If they're very high, a four-tenths cut," Tsuchihashi said after a moment of silence.

Hagawa's eyes lit up. A four-tenths cut? That could work.

"I'll bring my friend's creative concept and outline next time."

Before leaving, Hagawa browsed the bookstore. He found that the so-called "adult books" weren't as explosive as he had imagined; they were merely suggestive. On second thought, that was reasonable. In the original series, Make-Out Paradise was even made into a movie.

After leaving the bookstore, Hagawa didn't head to school but went to the ninja tool shop next door. He asked the owner about the price of exploding tags. Simply put, an exploding tag was a charm with a Fire Release ninjutsu sealed inside it. Its power was immense, and its price was exorbitant. In the original series, Shikamaru Nara, right after being promoted to Chunin, could only afford two.

But Hagawa discovered there were several types. The expensive ones could cost over 10,000 ryō and had the power of a Jonin-level Fire Release jutsu. He guessed that was the kind Shikamaru bought. The cheapest ones were 300 ryō each, good enough for "frying fish."

Hagawa's main goal was to grind for the Trait, and he was short on cash, so he bought fifteen of the cheapest exploding tags. Even so, the 5,000 ryō he had just received was now down to 500.

Hagawa returned home and went to school with Kurenai. As for the exploding tags, he planned to find an open space after school to test them out.

"Kakashi, in this afternoon's physical training, this great lord will definitely defeat you!" Obito's hot-blooded declaration echoed through the classroom.

"You can't even make it into the top ten," Kakashi瞥了一眼 him and said.

"This time will be different!" Obito said with his arms crossed. "Bearing the name of the future Hokage, I will not lose again!"

The school curriculum was divided into theory and practical lessons. Practical lessons weren't just simple "1v1 man-battles," but included multiple segments like ninjutsu instruction, ninja tool throwing, and physical training.

"Ugh, physical training. It's going to kill me," Kurenai said, her cheeks puffed out in displeasure. Hagawa could understand her. The physical training for a ninja was even more insane than a university fitness test. The last time, he, like Obito, hadn't even made it into the top ten.

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